“We always say that fashion is a reflection of our times,” said Dries Van Noten, giving a huge shrug. “Well, maybe that’s enough of that! Let’s do something optimistic, enjoy things—and really go for it!” Yep, the mood of despair, and general aghast-ness at the state of the news, is lifting from fashion in Paris. Perhaps it’s not so much full-on escapism as a healthy sense of resilience against adversity. Paris has lived through the worst of terrorist attacks. But should that interfere with a woman’s ability to see a pair of purple-and-silver brocade block-heeled boots, and fall in love with them?

There were multiple such delicious sightings, walking at a decorously unhurried pace under the chandeliers and the lofty gilded ceilings of the Hôtel de Ville: green and yellow brocade boots, rust and electric blue painted canvas boots, boots embroidered in orange sequins. Van Noten knows how to press all the buttons of his adult women. He reflects calmness, dignity, and self-possession. Chiefly, this season he made going a bit mad with color and glittery things look so simple and doable.

Buttons pushed? Show a nude slipdress to a woman who came of age in the ’90s, and she’ll be in an instantly friendly mood. Show her tailoring she can go to work in—even a blancmange pink trench—and she’ll relax. Break out the prints—silk scarves draped and fluttering on dresses—and she’ll be ecstatic.